Indonesia Antam 06 ferro-nickel sales jump

Indonesia Antam 06 ferro-nickel sales jump

Indonesian state-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) said on Thursday its ferro-nickel sales in 2006 nearly doubled from the previous year thanks to higher output.

Antam said in a statement sales of ferro-nickel in 2006 rose 92 percent to 13,389 tonnes from 6,988 in the previous year.

Last year, output of ferro-nickel, a raw material for stainless steel, jumped 97 percent to 14,474 tonnes from 7,338 a year earlier due to the start of the miner’s third smelter in May.

The company, 65 percent owned by the Indonesian government, is involved in the exploration and production of nickel ore, smelting of ferro-nickel, exploration and production and refining of gold and silver, bauxite and iron sands.

In May, Antam switched on the largest of its three smelters, FeNi III, which has an annual output capacity of 15,000 tonnes.

With the start of the third smelter, Antam expects ferro-nickel production in 2007 to be around 20,000 tonnes, after missing the target last year because of a three-month shutdown of FeNi III.

Antam said its gold sales in 2006 slipped to 3,340 kg from 3,639, in line with a fall in production to 2,873 kg from 2,911 in the previous year.

The company did not provide details of gold reserves in 2006.

Strong sales volume and higher commodity prices boosted Antam’s revenue in 2006 by 69 percent to 5.57 trillion rupiah ($614.8 million) compared with 3.29 trillion in the previous year, the company said.

Nickel sales accounted for 84 percent of the company’s sales revenue, while gold contributed 13 percent.

Antam said the average realised ferro-nickel price in 2006 was up 57 percent to $10.14 per pound from $6.45 a year before.

The average realised gold sales price in 2006 rose 37 percent to $611.59 per troy ounce from $446.14 in 2005.

($1=9,060 rupiah)

Source: Reuters

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